Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Dark Dawn for African Dream

Dark Dawn for African Dream

08 April 2015 saw Abahlali
Basemjondolo[1] and other partner civil society organization’s hosting a march
through the city center to highlight their disgust in the recent Xenophobic
attacks that seem to be gaining momentum in each city it passes in South
Africa.

The day was supposed to be just a peaceful
march down the major street to draw the public’s attention to this increasing
problem and to show how much this kind of behavior should not be tolerated by any
citizens in any part of the world as we are all human beings. The South African
government and the South African police role should be to protect and not allow
these attacks by criminal elements who were seen looting in people’s shops and
turning their acts of violence on innocent people.

The
vision and hope of the organizers of this march was short lived when the SAPS
and METRO police decided on their own accord that the march was no longer going
to take place and went in to disperse the crowd that were already gathered
there with water cannons, rubber bullets and stun grenades. This act of
disrespecting their rights is a direct insult to human dignity. These acts were
appalling and highly disturbing since all the relevant parties were informed
and all protocol was followed and the protesters had not given any sign or
reason for violent means of dispersion.

This was supposed to be the first
event for the day dealing with the xenophobic attacks that seemed to be on the
rise in the city. The second event was going to be a prayer vigil organized by Diakonia
council of churches[2] and various religious leaders outside the city hall.
This vigil was going to be the first of its kind whereby the religious leaders
stood up and expressed how they are not impressed by the way the government is
handling the whole xenophobia phenomena in the country. The vigil was turned
into an attack on the foreign nationals that were marching all day when one of
them was attacked by a local, a bigger fight was prevented by the police who
were present in their numbers to keep calm and safety for all involved.

The rest of the afternoon was very tense when certain
locals made their feelings towards foreigners clear that they didn’t want them
anymore in their country saying they are a bad influence on the place as they
bring about crime and drugs that destroy the community. The vigil was scheduled
to be an hour long but had to be longer as these locals were becoming
increasingly unruly and continued to threaten violence towards the foreign
nationals that had no intention of getting violent with anybody. The Cardinal of Durban Wilfred Napier called
on the country’s leaders to take a stand and call the South African public to
calm and encourage them to not resort to taking the law in their own hands and
remind them that they had voted for them to deal with such issues when they
arise and must be given the chance to do so.

The
day ended when police offered to transport the foreigners to a place of safety
in their many police trucks to prevent them from being the victims of the
locals who were clearly not relenting from their threat.

Footnote:

[1]
Abahlali basemjondolo is a shack dwellers movement well known for its
campaigning against evictions and public housing. It is the largest shack
dwellers organization in South Africa and campaigns to improve conditions of
poor people and democratize society from below

[2]
Diakonia council of churches is an economical inter-church agency, working with
church organizations in the pursuit of a more just society.